How long to image the Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50
From a Bortle 6 suburban sky, the ZWO Seestar S50 needs about 1 h 07 min (402 subs of 10 s) for a solid image of the Running Man Nebula. A quick look takes 17 min; a showpiece 4 h 28 min. Under a Bortle 3 rural sky the solid figure drops to 26 min. At Bortle 6 the limit is skyglow, so a darker site or a filter helps more than longer subs. In this scope's field it fills 46% of the frame’s short side.
| Sky | Quick lookTarget obvious, still noisy | SolidClean enough to share | ShowpieceSmooth faint detail, print-worthy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bortle 1Excellent dark site | 6 min34 subs | 23 min136 subs | 1 h 30 min542 subs |
| Bortle 2Typical dark site | 6 min36 subs | 24 min144 subs | 1 h 36 min574 subs |
| Bortle 3Rural | 7 min40 subs | 26 min159 subs | 1 h 46 min636 subs |
| Bortle 4Rural / suburban transition | 8 min50 subs | 33 min197 subs | 2 h 11 min786 subs |
| Bortle 5Suburban | 11 min64 subs | 43 min256 subs | 2 h 51 min1,024 subs |
| Bortle 6Bright suburban | 17 min101 subs | 1 h 07 min402 subs | 4 h 28 min1,606 subs |
| Bortle 7Suburban / urban transition | 28 min170 subs | 1 h 53 min680 subs | 7 h 33 min2,717 subs |
| Bortle 8City | 46 min278 subs | 3 h 05 min1,111 subs | 12 h4,441 subs |
| Bortle 9Inner city | 1 h 25 min508 subs | 5 h 38 min2,030 subs | 23 h8,117 subs |
Power and kit for this session
Allowing for slewing, focusing and rejected subs, that is about 1 h 27 min of run time. The Seestar S50’s battery (rated about 6 h) should cover it; a power bank still keeps the phone running the app alive. (Bortle 6, solid image; we allow 30% over the integration time, and 30% off the battery for a December night.)
- USB-C power bank 20000mAh 5V 3AThe S50 draws 5 V 3 A over USB-C and runs while charging; no PD needed.
- Seestar S50 dew shieldThe built-in heater copes with most nights; a shield helps in heavy dew and blocks stray light.
- red LED head torchRed light keeps your night vision; white light costs you twenty minutes of dark adaptation every time.
- hand warmers long lastingAir-activated packs give hours of heat for the person; winter nights are long and you spend most of them standing still.
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Everything that fits the Seestar S50 →
How it frames
The Running Man Nebula is 20′ × 10′ across. The Seestar S50 frames 1.28° × 0.72° at 2.39″ per pixel, so it fills 46% of the frame’s short side.
Longer subs
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Time for a solid image by sub length:
| Sub length | Bortle 3 | Bortle 5 | Bortle 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 s | 26 min159 subs | 43 min256 subs | 1 h 53 min680 subs |
| 20 s | 23 min69 subs | 39 min117 subs | 1 h 49 min329 subs |
| 30 s | 21 min43 subs | 38 min76 subs | 1 h 48 min217 subs |
| 60 s | 30 min30 subs | 36 min37 subs | 1 h 47 min107 subs |
Leave the dual-band filter out for the Running Man Nebula. It is a reflection nebula, and it shines right across the spectrum. A dual-band filter keeps two emission lines and throws the rest away, so most of the light you came for is being stopped along with the sky. From a Bortle 6 sky it would be roughly 12 times slower.
About the Running Man Nebula
The blue reflection nebula just north of M42 with a dark figure running through it. Broadband only; it comes free in a long Orion stack.
NGC 1977, Sh2-279 · Reflection nebula in Orion · magnitude 7.0 · 20′ × 10′ · best in Nov, Dec, Jan. Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.
Reflection nebulae are starlight scattered by dust, so they are broadband and blue. A dual-band filter removes almost all of it; do not use one. These are among the faintest structures a smart scope can attempt and the figures run long. A dark sky matters more here than for any other type, and the Moon must be down.
About the ZWO Seestar S50
The scope that made smart astrophotography mainstream. 50 mm triplet, 2 MP sensor, dual-band filter on a wheel. Alt-Az stacking at 10 s, EQ mode unlocks 60 s. Out of production since 2026 and replaced by the S50 Pro, but there are a great many in use.
10, 20 and 30 s in Alt-Az; 60 s only in EQ mode (app 2.5 and later). Built-in dual-band light-pollution filter, switchable in the app.
Longer subs matter most under dark skies, where read noise rather than skyglow sets the floor. From a city the difference between 10 s and 60 s subs is small; from a rural site it can halve the total time, especially with a dual-band filter in place.
Stack across nights. Every smart scope app can continue a stack or you can combine the saved frames on a computer; the figures here are totals, not single-session limits.
Have an image of the Running Man Nebula from a Seestar S50? Email it with your total time and sky to [email protected] and it goes here, credited.
Same target, other telescopes
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S50 Pro: 1 h 13 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30: 1 h 10 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro: 1 h 18 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF 3: 1 h 37 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF mini: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab Draco: 55 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the DwarfLab DWARF II: 3 h 48 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera II: 1 h 07 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro: 2 h 30 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera 3: 1 h 04 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Vaonis Vespera Pro 2: 2 h 23 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Unistellar eQuinox 2: 1 h from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Unistellar Odyssey: 4 h 39 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Celestron Origin: 18 min from Bortle 6
- Running Man Nebula with the Celestron Origin Mark II: 24 min from Bortle 6
All telescopes for the Running Man Nebula · All targets for the Seestar S50